As graduation season winds down in the Virgin Islands, the Class of 1975 from Ivanna Eudora Kean High School marked its 50th reunion with a series of celebrations. Organizers brought together dozens of classmates, both local and stateside, for two weeks of events that ran from mid-May through Sunday.
They also took time to honor their school community with scholarship awards, a gala banquet with cross-island counterparts from Charlotte Amalie High School, and tributes to a retired teacher’s aide. There were also church services, a memorial for classmates who passed away, a weekend day sail, and scholarship awards for 19 Kean High students who graduated this year.
About half the 70-member reunion class returned to St. Thomas for the big event; some of them had not seen their classmates in decades. “It’s a feeling you really can’t explain because … I haven’t seen some of my classmates since I was 16,” Baron said. “It was nostalgic.”
Baron said class members also reached out to Kean High Principal Sally Petty, offering funds for new graduates. The principal said there was a group of students who were working hard to win their diplomas, but needed a little incentive. Funds to supply 19 scholarships at $500 apiece came from the dues paid by class reunion members, Baron said.
The class also paid tribute at the banquet to Valerie Johnson, a retired teacher’s aide who continues her life at Kean High as a volunteer. After retiring in 2012, Johnson returned to assist the school librarian and help to organize special events.
Johnson was hailed as a prolific organizer. At Kean High in the late 1970s, she helped coordinate prom nights, class trips, and graduation ceremonies. In her off hours, she served organized labor as the fifth Vice President of the American Federation of Teachers, Local 1825.
When asked what it takes to put together 40 years’ worth of reunion celebrations that kept classmates coming back again and again. Baron admitted it took a lot out of her, but she replied with a laugh.
“There are different people all over the States, in different states … then you try to connect; when you connect you have to do a group chat. Then you do the itinerary,” she said. “It’s not easy.”
The year 1975 marked the first graduating class to complete all four years at Ivanna Eudora Kean High School, following the school’s name change in 1971. As the Class of 2025 marched into the Digna Marie Wheatley Gymnasium, members of the Class of 1975 — joined by other milestone reunion classes — sat proudly behind them, cheering them on.
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